27A.—(1) The registration board of a designated profession is designated, as of and from the day on which its register is established under section 36(1), as the competent authority for the designated profession concerned under Directive 2005/36/EC.

(2) The registration board of a designated profession shall, on and after the day on which its register is established under section 36(1)—

(a) act as the competent authority for the purposes of all matters referred to in Directive 2005/36/EC which relate to the role of a competent authority for the purposes of the recognition of professional qualifications of persons engaged in the designated profession concerned, and

(b) assess, for the purposes of section 38(2)(c), the professional qualifications of persons referred to in that section in accordance with the procedures (if any) contained in bye-laws (if any) made under section 31(1)(e).

(3) A person who was, immediately before the day on which the register of a registration board of a designated profession is established under section 36(1), the competent authority under Directive 2005/36/EC in relation to the designated profession concerned shall, notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2) but subject to subsection (4), continue to be the competent authority in relation to every application under that Directive in relation to that designated profession if, on or before that day—

(a) a decision has not been made on the application concerned, and

(b) the application has not been withdrawn.

(4) The person referred to in subsection (3) shall continue to be the competent authority in relation to each application referred to in that subsection until a final decision is made on any appeal of that decision, but nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring or permitting that person, where the decision concerned is to require the applicant concerned to undertake a compensation measure, to assess that applicant’s completion of that compensation measure.]

F29[(5) Subject to subsection (6), a person who was, immediately before the day on which the register of a designated profession is established under section 36(1), the competent authority under Directive 2005/36/EC in relation to the designated profession concerned shall, before the expiration of the number of days after that day that has been prescribed under section 95 for the purposes of this subsection, give the registration board of that profession all the records, being records of such kind and in such format that have been prescribed under section 95 for the purposes of this subsection, that are in the person’s power or control and that the person acquired in the person’s former capacity as such competent authority, that the board requires to perform its functions—

(a) as the competent authority under that Directive for that profession, and

(b) under this Act as the registration board of that profession.

(6) If the person referred to in subsection (5) requires any records referred to in that subsection for the purposes of performing a function under subsection (3) or (4), the reference in subsection (5) to "after the day" shall be construed to mean, in the case of those records, after that day on which those records are no longer required for those purposes.

(7) Any right of access, under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003, to records referred to in subsection (5) that existed immediately before the day on which those records were given to a registration board pursuant to that subsection is not affected by the giving of those records to that board.

(8) For the purposes of section 18 of the Freedom of Information Act 1997, any act done by the person referred to in subsection (5) before the day on which records referred to in that subsection were given to a registration board pursuant to that subsection is deemed to have been done by that board.]